Daily GK Update : 24th May 2017

Honours & Awards

1. R. Ashwin wins International Cricketer of the Year award

• Indian off spinner ‘Ravichandran Ashwin’ has won the International Cricketer of the Year award at the CEAT Cricket Rating (CCR) International awards 2017.
• The award was presented to Ashwin by Sunil Gavaskar (former India skipper) and Harsh Goenka (Chairman of RPG Enterprises) at a function held at the Cricket Club of India.
• Ashwin has taken 99 wickets in the past 12 months.
• Young batsman Shubhman Gill won the Young player of the year award for his superb performance during the India-England U-19 ODI series, played in Mumbai.

Note:

• Ravichandran Ashwin is an all-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off break.
• Ashwin plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket and the Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) in the IPL.
• He is the fastest Indian bowler to reach the 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 wicket mark in Test cricket.

 2. Sachin A Billion Dreams: Sachin's biopic made tax-free in Odisha

• According to the Odisha Finance minister Shashi Bhushan Behera, upcoming Bollywood biopic on cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, ’Sachin: A Billion Dreams’, would be tax free in Odisha (already declared tax-free in Kerala and Chhattisgarh).
• Now, the state government to waive the entertainment tax for the movie in the State.
• The movie is a biographical sketch of the cricket legend written and directed by ‘James Erskine’.
• The movie will be released on coming Friday in five languages: English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.

National & International Appointment

3. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to be next Director General of WHO

• Former health minister of Ethiopia ‘Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ will be the next Director- General (DG) of the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Ghebreyesus defeated British candidate and former Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Ebola David Nabarro at the World Health Assembly (WHA).
• He replaces Margaret Chan, who will step down after ten years as the WHO chief at the end of June this year.
• Ghebreyesus will be the first African to head up the UN agency, after winning the most votes from 186 member States.

Note:

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has established on 7 April 1948, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It is a specialised agency of the United Nations(UN) that is concerned with international public health.

International Affairs

4. World's largest aircraft Airlander 10 completes test flight

• The world's largest aircraft ‘Airlander 10’ has successfully completed the test flight and filled with helium is only one step away from commercial use.
• The hybrid aircraft dubbed the ‘Airlander 10’ combines technology from air planes, helicopters, and airships.
• It has been designed to fly with the passengers for a maximum of 6100 meters on five days with a length of 92 meters.

Obituaries

5. Actor Sir Roger Moore passes away

• Actor Sir Roger Moore (89-year) (known for playing James Bond) passed away in Switzerland due to cancer.
• Sir Roger was the longest-serving actor to play the womanising MI6 agent, having portrayed 007 in seven films.

Banking & Finance

6. Federal Bank launches new trading platform

• Federal Bank and Geojit have jointly launched a new trading platform 'Selfie' for customers.
• The trading platform will give its users absolute control over their investments with timely research inputs to make sound investment decisions.
• The features of the Selfie Trading Platform are a uniform experience across multiple platforms and devices and an advanced charting platform that enables users to trade directly from charts.

National Affairs

7. Tourism Minister inaugurated ‘Return of the three stone Sculptures from Australia to India’

• The Culture and Tourism minister ‘Mahesh Sharma’ has inaugurated an exhibition titled ‘Return of the Three Stone Sculptures from Australia to India’ in the National Museum in New Delhi.
• The exhibition has been organised to mark the safe return of three stone sculptures (Seated Buddha, Worshippers of Buddha, Goddess Pratyangira) from Australia to India.
• Mahesh Sharma has also launched an ‘App on Swachchta Abhiyan’ with a focus to involve people actively in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
• When a person is in a monument or Museum the App will deliver him the message about Swachh Bharat Abhiyan asking to report the garbage lying around.

8. Piyush Goyal launches mobile app 'SEVA' for quick tracking of coal dispatch

• The union minister of state for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy, and Mines 'Shri Piyush Goyal' has launched the ‘Saral Eindhan Vitaran Application’ (SEVA) in New Delhi.
• The app is developed by Coal India Limited (CIL) for power sector consumers.
• The aim of the ‘SEWA app’ to increase the Consumer Connect as well as the Transparency and Accountability in Coal dispatch.

Note:

• The users would be able to hold the govt. accountable for the coal linkage allocations and would be able to check any pilferage or inefficiencies in coal consumption for power generation.

9. Manoj Sinha launches Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya Telecom Skill Excellence Awards

• The Communications Minister Manoj Sinha has launched ‘Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Telecom Skill Excellence Awards’ and a scheme Sanchar Kaushal Vikas Pratishthan named after the BJP ideologue at a function in New Delhi.
• Around 10,000 people will be imparted training in Telecom sector through the scheme.
• The minister also launched Mobile Satellite Communication on the occasion.

10. The union govt. launches integration of e- sanad with CBSE's Academic Repository

• The union ministers Sushma Swaraj (External Affairs Minister), Prakash Javadekar (HRD Minister) and Ravi Shankar Prasad (IT Minister) jointly inaugurated the integration of E-Sanad with CBSE's academic repository in New Delhi.
• E Sanad is an E service for verification and attestation of documents of Indian citizens.
• The applicants traveling abroad can get their documents attested and verified through E Sanad.
• It is a faceless and paperless service.
• The integration will facilitate electronic movement of documents among stakeholders and digital cross verification by foreign governments.

 "Thought of the Day"

“Never mind what others do; do better than yourself, beat your own record from day to day, and you are a success.”

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